


ama te ipsum

by langmaor



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Calling Out, Late Night Conversations, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-15 20:06:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10556936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/langmaor/pseuds/langmaor
Summary: “Hey, do you-"“Sir Ike, would-"





	

**Author's Note:**

> i feel like i've finally found out how people seem to crank out nothing but fire emblem fics for years on end. it's easy, all you have to do is let it take over your life :)))))))))
> 
> special thanks to my shitposting accomplice mrolau on tumblr for feedback!!

****Rafiel lives each day ever conscious of the increasing burden of his existence. His back bends under it, his mind grows weary of it. He can smile and nod all he wants in the day; at night, the bitter truths of his existence surface from the turbulence of his thoughts, like icebergs at sea.

His whole life flashed in front of him, a series of faces, a burden being passed on from face to face. First his father, then Tibarn, then Queen Nailah… Never independent, never able to do anything on his own.

Beside him, Volug bared his teeth, letting out a low growl in his sleep. Out of habit, Rafiel reached a hand out, ran it through his coarse fur until he quietened. In wakefulness, Volug would have rather ripped his own insides out rather than come close to Rafiel like this, but in sleep, like all others, he lost himself.

Rafiel brought his hands in front of his face to cradle his head in his hands; a strong stench had him perish the thought as he wrinkled his nose in disgust. _These wolves be darned…_

His joining and continued aiding of Ike's army had exposed far more unpleasant, ugly aspects of himself than he'd dared to even think about. He'd known he was a burden his entire life; it was natural, it was expected, easy to deal with now. On the other hand, Rafiel had no idea how to deal with all jealousy, with envy, with hatred.

He breathed out a shaky sigh that Volug seemed to mistake for a fly, and swatted at the air. At length he rose to leave the tent, intending to get some fresh air away from the wolf.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he did not immediately run into any of his protectors. Rafiel sat down at by the campfire and stared into it, allowing his thoughts to take whichever course they pleased.

* * *

“Want to talk about it?” Ike asked bluntly, cutting to the heart of the matter.

Rafiel was taken aback. “Are you sure you want to listen?”

Ike chuckled. “Yeah.”

Still confused, the heron stalled for time. “But why?”

“Because,” big, blue eyes looked him over, “I'm interested in knowing.”

The prince let out a small laugh at the no-nonsense reply. “Very well. Please, let me know when you feel weary, I-”

“Shhh.” Ike silenced him. “No apologies, remember?”

Rafiel bristled apologetically. “Right.”

“So, what was bothering you tonight?”

“Oh… nothing of much importance, really.”

He stopped, before realizing Ike was still looking expectantly right into his eyes, waiting for him to continue.

“I was only reflecting on my life so far.”

Ike laughed. “That's funny. I thought only geezers like Nasir did that sort of thing.”

Against his will, Rafiel snorted in laughter. Reflexively he covered his mouth with his hand.

“I'm s-”

“Shhh...” Ike placed a finger on his lips, grinning. He looked his age like this, a boy without the obligations of leading an army and fighting a war weighing on his shoulders. “Got you to laugh,” he said, as if it was an achievement to be proud of.

Rafiel dropped his hands down and folded them in his lap. He wasn't used to dealing with people like Ike: he spoke like a flatterer, but his intentions were pure. He acted like he cared, and the strangest thing was, it really felt like he did.

“It's okay if you don't want to talk about it,” Ike offered. “You can just say no, Rafiel.”

“What? I… I know that,” he replied.

Ike shook his head. “Sure, maybe you do. But you still never do it. You always go along with the other party, even when it makes you uncomfortable.”

Rafiel felt anger slowly rising up inside him. “I'm only being considerate, as befits a prince of Serenes.”

“There's a difference between being considerate and being a doormat.”

“Sir Ike, you really are crossing the line-”

“See, that's a good face. It's got life in it.”

“What–?”

Before he could get a sentence out, Ike had left his seat.

“You don't need to act happy all the time. When you're angry, show it. When you're sad, show that too. Hell, that's what we've got these mugs for.”

Rafiel stifled a reply as Ike's broad back faded into his tent.

* * *

The weather was good today. Some would call it cold, but it was just right for Rafiel. And when the weather was just right, something else was clearly not going to be.

Micaiah ruffled Yune's feathers, seated in front of him. The Purge tome in front of him looked almost like it was taunting him. The pages upon pages of future perfect progressive sentences stared him in the face, awaiting their translation into the common tongue. He distinctly felt they were laughing at him.

“...and this part says 'may thine enemies be ashes when thy servant completes this incantation.' Can you read it to me now?”

The priestess of dawn mulled it over, nodding finally. “Let me try,” she declared.

What he wouldn't do to get over with this torture… Although, it wasn't like he had anything better planned after this. As he recalled, Reyson had wanted to practice singing together, and then Nailah had wanted to eat with him. A thoroughly normal, thoroughly boring day.

Just then, Mist came into view, calling out Micaiah's name. The priestess looked around and excused herself for a moment. She rushed off toward the young fighter, a smile playing on her lips.

He could see them talking in the distance, Mist's cheerful face and Micaiah's back. She would be back soon and again these past perfect clauses would get to work on splitting his head apart.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and just barely prevented himself from jerking away. Ike still noticed, and pulled his hand back before apologizing.

“Sorry, I'm sorry-”

“Shhh.” Rafiel corrected him. “No apologies, remember?”

A slow smile spread across his face. He put his hand on the back of his neck as he began to talk.

“The thing is, there's a carnival going on near here, and I-”

“A what?”

“A carnival is basically a place where they do lots of fun things and celebrate a festival. I'm not very sure what this one's about, but...” Ike's warm eyes held his gaze. “Would you like to go with me?”

“Could I?” Rafiel questioned. Surely the commander of an army had other things to do. Well, it wasn't like Rafiel himself was unoccupied anyways.

“I wouldn't have offered otherwise,” Ike grinned. “So that's a yes. Let's go, then.”

“But I still need to-”

Ike waved away his protests with a smile.

“It can wait!”

* * *

The one upside to having his wings broken was that they folded perfectly against his back. With a cloak drawn over his head, he looked just like the average beorc, except maybe paler.  
  
"Sorry, but could you please stick close to me? There have been… incidents… with my friends wearing cloaks that ended up going horribly wrong. It makes me nervous."  
  
"Of course," Rafiel assented. He wondered what kind of incident had transpired, and held on to a length of Ike's cloak.  
  
Ike stopped in his tracks for a second, was silent for a second before he spoke.  
  
"You know what, we can just hold hands. Don't let go."  
  
"R…right."  
  
With that the heron found his hand taken in Ike's warmer, coarser one. The bright lights of the carnival looked so enchanting, he guessed quite a lot of people got lost in it. Perhaps this level of security was warranted.  
  
"Ike, what is that?"  
  
"Oh, the goldfish scooping? You wanna try?"  
  
"Um!"  
  
Ike chuckled. "You basically try to get as many of them in your net as you can. I think you should try it, you just pop them in your bucket so they don't die. A lot of people catch them as presents, but they're damn hard to catch."  
  
"Very well then. For my siblings!"  
  
Ike muffled a laugh. "For Serenes!"

* * *

Ike couldn't stop snickering, even with Rafiel glaring (as best as he could) his way.  
  
"Mist is gonna love this," he spoke. It was honestly hilarious. Rafiel had only put his net in when the goldfish had tripped over themselves trying to get into it. Heron blood wasn't for nothing, he guessed. And after that, the shopkeeper had chased them out, accusing them of cheating.  
  
"Please refrain from spreading this news," Rafiel pressed with a pout on his face.  
  
"Alright, alright. Shall we visit the food stands next?"  
  
"After that one," Rafiel said, pointing in the direction of a shooting booth that was most likely rigged in the keeper's favour.  
  
"You get a prize depending on how close to the center you hit," Ike explained. "Do you want to take a shot?"

* * *

Rafiel snickered into his sleeve, as Ike looked gruffly away.  
  
"Lady Mist will love this," Rafiel spoke. Rafiel's first shot hadn't even made it to the board, his second one had hit the outermost ring, and the last one had hit not the board, but the prize directly. But that wasn't the good part; the good part was that the man in charge of the stall, smitten by Ike's visage, had treated them all as wins, so here they were, walking away with a month's worth of sweets.

* * *

"This is… meant to be eaten…?"  
  
Rafiel poked at the mysterious dish with his spoon. Ike rolled his eyes.  
  
"You'll like it, trust me. There's no meat in it or anything. It's just fruits and milk."  
  
"You know about our peculiar appetites?"  
  
"Well, of course," Ike said, pulling the dish towards himself and spooning out a mouthful, "how long do you think I've known Reyson?"  
  
He held out the spoonful towards Rafiel, who stared at it.  
  
After a moment of silence he laughed and handed the spoon back to him.  
  
"Reyson opened his mouth without thinking when I did that to him. I should've guessed the older brother wouldn't be so easily influenced."  
  
Rafiel couldn't suppress a laugh as he found himself agreeing. He ate the 'custard,' surprised to find that it actually tasted amazingly good.  
  
"It's probably because Sister and I spoiled him far too much when we were younger."  
  
Ike grinned. "That must have been fun."  
  
Rafiel finished his custard in silence, and Ike chomped away noisily at his steak.

* * *

The sun was dipping down low in the sky when they finally began the trek home. Neither of them was really conscious of the fact that they were still holding hands.  
  
"So, did you like it?" Ike asked.  
  
"Oh, yes. I did enjoy myself. Thank you, Ike."  
  
Ike smiled. "I'm glad you did. You didn't look like you were having the best time at camp, so I thought I'd take you for a change of air."  
  
"That... was really thoughtful of you."  
  
"Don't mention it. It comes with the job. Not that I did it just because it was my job," he hastened to add.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah, I did it because I like seeing you happy, Rafiel. It feels like you're never happy enough whenever I see you."  
  
"Th…thank you, Si- Ike. You still find the time to be concerned for me while leading an army, I…"

“Hey, I lead the army because I'm concerned about everyone in it.”

Rafiel laughed.

* * *

Nailah, Tibarn, Reyson and Leanne all sat around the campfire, along with Ike and Rafiel himself.

“What I'm saying is, I don't like the ideas you're putting into his head, and I'd like you to stop.”

“Rafiel isn't a child for you to control what ideas he gets, Queen. Maybe if you didn't try to treat him like your little plaything-”

“I do nothing of the sort! Rafiel is only what a heron ought to be!”

“Why are you deciding-”

“I won't stand for-”

“ _Both of you_ _._ _Quiet. Now._ ”

Reyson's quiet command succeeded in calming the two parties, to an extent. He continued speaking.

“I acknowledge the problem being raised here – the problem that this respected queen almost smothers my brother with her image of an ideal heron. I know,” he added, noticing Rafiel flinch at what Reyson knew he would take as a direct accusation, “my brother would never accuse her of this himself, which is why myself and Ike are doing it.”

“I'm on board as well,” Tibarn added as an afterthought, and Nailah turned her glaring gaze at him.

Nailah drew her head back. “So you are all gathered here to tell me what, exactly?”

“I don't know,” Ike began, tersely, “all I want to say is that there's no need for you to treat him like a child. He is his own person.”

She sneered. “He can't even defend himself.”

“And so what? It doesn't mean he can't be whatever he wants to be. And if he wants to, I don't know, _not_ be a pretty doll for a day, you've no right to stop him.”

“Fine,” she spat out. “He can do as he wishes. He doesn't need to answer to me anymore.”

* * *

Reyson drew an arm around his brother, who was trembling.

“Hey,” Tibarn said, “I'd say you've more than worked off your debt to her. You'll always have a home with us.”

“Th-thank you, King Tibarn,” Rafiel said, summoning his best attempt at a smile.

“I'm sorry I didn't watch my mouth better back there.” Ike groaned out.

“No, you only said what was just, Ike.” Reyson replied, and Rafiel had to take a second to envy the easiness in the way his brother spoke to Ike, to the others in the army.

“Ike, I- I know I look broken up about it right now, but we… I would have needed to have that conversation sooner or later. I'm just glad I didn't have to do it alone,” Rafiel spoke out.

“Aw, look at you, all grown up,” Tibarn teased him, and Ike couldn't suppress a guffaw at that.

* * *

Yune's red, all-knowing, all-observing eyes passed by Leanne, passed by Reyson, and finally settled on him as he swallowed nervously. There was no way…

“Rafiel.” Ike's voice almost made him jerk. “Would you do me the honor of accompanying us into the Tower?”

“...Yes, with pleasure.” He smiled at the blue eyes in front of him.

Ike grinned affectionately, slinging an arm around him. “You idiot, acting all cool like that.”

Rafiel blushed, and nudged him in the side. “It isn't acting. This really means a lot to me. Thank you, Sir-”

“Ike.”

“Pardon me?” Rafiel tilted his head to one side in confusion. It completely escaped his notice how close they still were, and how the others were beginning to laugh at the fact as well.

“It's just Ike.”

He felt the blood rush to his face in embarrassment. “Thank you.”

“Who are you thanking, though?” Ike teased.

“ _Thank. You. Ike_.” He replied, placidly plastering a smile on his face.

“Th-that's actually scarier than any face I've ever seen so far, please stop-”

* * *

“So, it's all over, huh?”

“It is indeed,” Rafiel acquiesced.

The sounds of celebration surrounded them; the entire army was in victory mode and rejoicing. And Ike, supposed to be at the center of it all, had quietly slipped away to join Rafiel in his quiet contemplation.

“Hey, do you-”

“Sir Ike, would-”

They both paused, and broke out into soft laughter before Ike began again.

“I'm tired of all this fighting,” he spoke. “I'm going… to explore the other lands, beyond the seas and the deserts. And I want to ask… would you like to accompany me?”

Rafiel felt the easy tears flood his eyes.

“You would be alright with me?”

Ike grinned fondly, and reached out an arm to sling around his shoulder.

“I wouldn't have it be anyone else but you.”

**Author's Note:**

> wanna illuminate my life by leaving a comment about how you felt while reading this? FEEL FREE!
> 
> if anyone was wondering, the incident that ike is talking about happened in path of radiance. i won't say anymore for fear of spoiling!


End file.
